State financial advisory board rejects city manager replacement

Kyle Tertzag (right) held a press interview after a state-appointed financial advisory board rejected a proposal to hire him as interim city manager.

Kyle Tertzag (right) held a press interview after a state-appointed financial advisory board rejected a proposal to hire him as interim city manager.

 

 

By Charles Sercombe
Former Acting City Manager Kyle Tertzag will not be coming back in that role.
At a packed monthly Receivership Transition Advisory Board meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the board rejected a city council resolution hiring Tertzag to come back as interim city manager.
Without further comment, the board said simply that Tertzag was not qualified, but did not specify why he was not qualified. The board instructed the city council to come back with an appointee who is qualified, although it was unclear what qualifications the board is looking for.
It is expected that the decision will be met with a legal challenge.
Tertzag lashed out at the board for not allowing him to speak at the end of the meeting despite several comments made by the public about him and his qualifications.
Board Chairman Deborah Roberts said Tertzag had a chance to speak at the beginning of the meeting when the public is allowed to address the board.
Before the board voted on Tertzag’s contract, several residents spoke against him. A resident and a few non-residents spoke favorably of Tertzag.
The meeting on Tuesday was tense and sweaty, and those speaking against Tertzag cited his checkered record as a councilmember in Allen Park and as city administrator for Woodhaven.
Others said the “process” the council followed in hiring Tertzag was flawed, and even possibly the bare majority of councilmembers who voted to hire him had violated the state’s Open Meetings Act.
Mark Hausner, a local attorney and Downtown Development Authority member, said the way the council handled the appointment makes it seem like the city is “on the verge” of falling into a financial crisis for a third time.
Mayor Karen Majewski agreed, saying the city is still “fragile.”
Councilmember Ian Perrotta said that even though a bare majority of councilmembers voted for Tertzag, that action “does not reflect the will of the community.”
Tertzag was appointed by a slim majority of councilmembers — Anam Miah, Abu Musa, Mohammed Hassan and Saad Almasmari — in a special meeting that was called on short notice.
Perrotta also accused the council majority behind Tertzag’s hiring of colluding behind the scenes to hire him, thus likely violating the state’s Open Meetings Act.
Bill Meyer came to the defense of the council majority, saying like it or not, the majority vote rules.
Immediately after the meeting Tertzag held a press interview in council chambers.
He said the board’s decision was “backlash” from the state Treasury Department from the time he was in Hamtramck as acting city manager and brought to the department’s attention that former Emergency Manager Cathy Square made “bigoted” remarks.
Square, an African-American, allegedly questioned a city employee of Mexican heritage if he was a “Mex-i-can or a Mex-i-can’t,” Tertzag said.
Tertzag also said that when he championed putting in bike lanes on some city streets, she called that plan “crazy” because Bengali-American drivers “will kill someone.”
She also allegedly said that Hamtramck could not work with the City of Highland Park “because it’s run by black people.”
Despite telling the state about Square’s alleged comments, he was told by state officials to “let it go.”
Square was emergency manager in Hamtramck for 18 months, and is now city administrator for Highland Park.
The Review reached out to Square for comment and she said: “I deny it all.” She declined to comment further.
Tertzag also accused the RTAB of violating the state’s Open Meetings Act because one member of the board was telling the public the weekend before the meeting that a decision had already been made.
“It was a done deal,” Tertzag said.

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